Belize, Haiti, and St. Lucia Talk Tourism

Anthony Mahler

Countries across the world have been working to bring back their tourism industries in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the nation of Haiti, the pandemic has not been its only adversary. Minister of Tourism, Anthony Mahler recently met with the Ministers of Tourism in Haiti and St Lucia for an information and education session on rebounding tourism in the region.

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations

“It was between me, the Minister of Tourism from St. Lucia and the Minister from Haiti. We just discussed the tourism industry in all of our countries and what we are facing. The Minister from Haiti discussed the earthquake, the storm, civil unrest. The minister of tourism for St. Lucia spoke about rebuilding tourism in that country, the role tourism plays in the development of all our countries. We can learn from each other and that is what I discussed this morning, we can learn from each other.  A lot of things we can do to build the Caribbean, build Central America, build Belize. With COVID, the poverty rates in this country is hovering around sixty-five percent. Pre-COVID if you look at the 2018 report, we are about fifty-two percent. So, there is a lot of need. There is a lot of need for employment. There is a lot of need for people to live decent. The cost of living is horrendous right now. I speak about that every week in Cabinet. So, we are putting together some initiatives that will try to alleviate that type of burden that is on the Belizean people.”